Chương 75: Chapter 63. Noble Titles

I was awoken by the sun shining through the window of the carriage. After I was able to shake off the annoyance from the sun, I was able to realize the situation I was in. Sarah was using my left lap as a pillow as she fell asleep kneeling on the floor in front of me and Anna was sleeping on my right shoulder. I felt bad to wake them, as it seemed they were sleeping peacefully, but the sun was rising and they needed to return as to not be caught sleeping outside of the mansion. I began to wake Sarah up gently.

Her purple eyes were unfocused at first, but once she was able to focus on me in time. She proceeded to smile gently at me when she figured out who she was looking at." Why did you wake me, My Love?"" I'm trying to keep you both out of trouble. Do you call me "My Love", in your head while you call my name when speaking?"" Fufufu... Maybe?" Seems I asked the question too late to get an honest answer. Sarah raised herself from my lap and began to straighten her clothes and hair. I started to wake up Anna as well.

I started to gently call to her, since she was already so close to me. I was able to rouse her from her sleep. Her dark-green eyes looked almost black before she began to actually wake up." Master..."" So, I'm still your Master even in your dreams, Anna?" Realization started to dawn on her. I could tell by the time she was red as a tomato that she realized everything that was happening." Mas.. I mean... John... It's because of the dream I was having, that's all!"

She was extremely flustered, I felt bad about it to a degree." Well, well, Anna. It seems my suspicions about that Maid Roleplay wasn't that far off, now was it?" Anna and Sarah proceeded to speak to each other quietly. Only when I reminded them that time was running out for them to not get caught, that they decided to leave. The rest of the morning went fine for the most part, Anna arrived around an hour later, still trying to explain why she called me Master earlier.

I told her it was fine and what we address each other as is only something we need to be comfortable with, not other people. I was then grabbed by Anna and brought behind the stables and hugged with great force. When I mentioned the Goddess was watching, Anna squeezed harder, then let me go. We left the place we were in soon after and Anna served me a breakfast of fruits local to Bloodslide and some oatmeal as well. Before long, we were ready to go after finishing cleaning up and changing into fitting clothes.

As we waited, I thought now would be a good moment to express my thanks to Anna. I looked at her and she stared back at me." Anna, I just wanted to say, thank you for everything you've done for me. I know I've said this plenty of times over these last 3 months, but, its days like this where I truly realize none of this would be possible without you. I hope you can continue to take care of me and I hope I can take care of you as well."

She was shocked to hear me speak, eventually, she responded to me in the best way she could." Please continue to take care of me as well, John." She then opened the eyes on her body and the pupils looked around for a few moments before she continued to speak." I... I Love you, Master!" I was surprised by her professing her Love for me. Granted, I think she was too, because she also seemed like she had no clue why she said it." I Love you too, Anna." / Woosh! / Cool...

We let the cool breeze of the morning relax us as we waited for the rest of the party to gather so we could leave Blooslide and continue our journey. Before long, they arrived. This morning, the Lord didn't take the same attitude as last night with me. His Knights however, started to. Because of that, they started to begin to faint from the pressure of my Friends releasing their bloodlust. Nothing terrible happened and it seemed like the Lord was happy to be rid of us.

As we left, it seemed that my new partner for horseback riding was Asha." Hello, John, I apologize for not being able to put that man in his place last night. Since it seemed you wanted to just sweep it under the rug, I hope you won't hold it against me. However, I feel the need to remind you that you are a Ranked Noble, John! A Marquess no less! You should not tolerate such attitudes when you are Officially Coronated."" Well, yes... I won't hold it against you guys. I want this journey to be as smooth as possible.

Again, this is all done by my selfish request after all. And speaking of my Noble Rank, is Marquess really that high of a Rank, Asha?" The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Asha looked dumbfounded at my question. It took her a few moments to realize I was genuinely questioning her. She composed herself and began to speak." In terms of Social Hierarchy, John. It goes like this, from Lowest Rank to Highest Rank.

Commoner, Knight, Baron, Count, Viscount, Earl, Marquess, Duke and then the Royal Family. There are other Titles that denote Special Meanings, but usually, there are around 4 Statuses these types of Titles will mean.

"Baronet" for instance, is a Title only attributed to a single person in the household and that Title will not pass onto the person's children. Archduke is what a Duke is called after he retires and gives his Title to his child. Margrave is a title given to those that are born into a Noble Household and have the possibility of inheriting the Title. Countess is a Title for Women. It's one of the Feminine Titles for Matriarchs of a Noble Family.

Sometimes a Title can denote 2 of these conditions depending on the circumstances. For instance, my Mother was given the Title of "Duchess". Which was given to mean that she was a Woman who was born into a Duke's Household and that she had the opportunity to become the Matriarch of the Family if she so chose to."" Wow, what a mouth full. Thank you for explaining that. I just have 3 questions after that, if you don't mind answering them.

The first is, what happens to the Royal Princes and Princesses when a new King or Queen is Crowned?"" I can't speak for other Nations, but here in Diablos. Usually, the Eldest of the Family will be granted a Title of either Earl, Marquess or Duke and then either given some land or return to their Family's previous land that had been left to side branches of the Family to look after.

I should also mention that Former Royals are highly sought after as Marriage Partners, seeing as how their Bloodlines created Kings or Queens." I stopped to absorb all of the information I could. After spending a few minutes to really let it settle, I asked my next question." Where do Town Lords fit in to the Rankings then?"" They are more like managers of an area than a Noble. They are democratically chosen by the town's population in an election.

Once they are elected, they are like a Higher Status Commoner than an Actual Noble. Though, there are occasions where a Noble will be given the job of being a Town Lord as well as his other Noble Duties. A Fief Lord is like a Town Lord, but for an entire area instead of just a town." Once I let that sink in, the next question came naturally." For the children of High-Ranking Nobles, how are they supposed to act socially with Nobles of Lesser Rank? For instance, I'm a Marquess, right?

You're a Duke's child, a Duchess. Officially, how would our Statuses dictate our public interactions?" Asha cracked a smile at my question. It seemed it amused her to some degree." Not a bad question to ask, John. To answer it, Since I am only seen as a child with no Achievements to my name. I would be considered the Lower Social Rank. However, if you were to do anything that would harm me or be an affront to my Honor, you would be punished as if it were to have happened to my Parents."" I see.

Maybe I should take more of a professional attitude instead of-" Grip! I was beginning to form a joke about being too personal with Asha or Sharon. Before I could finish, my right arm was grabbed by Asha. She looked as serious as when she said she wanted to fight the Hero Party to help Sarah. She began to speak in a calm, but pressuring tone." No one said anything about having to do that! If you were to do that at this point, Sharon, Cynthia and I would be none too pleased about it. So don't even think about it!

Do you understand me, John?"" Relax! Relax! I was joking!" She still was imposing pressure through a glare." Look, Asha. I promise I won't, so please let me go before the Soldiers see how close you are to me and begin to gossip."

"!" Release! My words made her widen her eyes and look at what she was doing to me. She separated from me and looked away from me." I'll be holding you to your promise, John." She mumbled that quietly. Thankfully, because of Cynthia, I was able to hear it!" You can. I don't plan on treating you guys too differently. Maybe when you all get Engaged, I'll be less friendly though. Since I know I'd hate it if a man was too friendly with Sarah or Anna."" Engaged. Hmmm..." Asha began to think deeply about something.

I didn't want to interrupt, since I'd rather she think about something than keep glaring at me. What is with Demon Women having chilling glares? Is it the Noble Upbringings? Is it the mana? Asha and I both had separate things we were ruminating on. Before long, we made it to a new town. I turned to Asha as we arrived at the town's gates." Hey, Asha, what's the name of this town?"" Hmm? Oh! Oh no! We've already arrived!" Asha seemed to realize the town was upon us and seemed... Let down for some reason?" Well, yeah.

We are on a timetable after all, Asha."" No, I know that! It's that the time I won..."" The time you won?"" Never mind!" Since she seemed to be in a better mood, I decided to just ask the question again. This time Asha heard me." This town is known as Ashneck."" Do I want to know the story?"" It's actually based on the Ritual an Ancient Tribe of Demons used to do before going to battle. They would burn a flower around these parts called Boarheart Roses.

The ash was good for covering their scent, they would sneak around the battlefield with it adorned around their bodies."" I see. How did this area become a town then?"" The details are unknown. The origin of the name was passed down orally for around 3000 years before Diablos started trying to record Our Own History 2000 years ago."" I see. Sorry to ask an impossible question."" It's fine, I enjoy answering your questions.

You tend to think outside of our common sense, so you give interesting answers or new different questions from what I usually am asked." Asha smiled pleasantly at me. I couldn't just enjoy the peaceful moment as I saw a certain pair of purple eyes staring at me from in front of us. Regardless, we entered Ashneck and met the Lord. He looked like a traditional ogre. His name was Carto. To my surprise, Carto was surprisingly tolerant of me and allowed me into his home to spend the night. The meal was nice.

The warm bath was nicer. My legs started to ache in the bath from the soreness of riding my horse all day. I was so tired that as soon as my head touched the pillow on the big soft bed I was given, I fell asleep.